Air Force print news (Jan. 10, 2006); Wynne: AF needs to recapitalize.WASHINGTON Washington, town, England Washington, town (1991 pop. 48,856), Sunderland metropolitan district, NE England. Washington was designated one of the new towns in 1964 to alleviate overpopulation in the Tyneside-Wearside area. (AFPN AFPN Air Force Print News AFPN American Forces Philippines Network (former AFRTS network in the Philippine Islands ) -- With the combination of aging and heavily used equipment, the Air Force needs recapitalization Recapitalization Restructuring a company's debt and equity mixture often with the aim of making a company's capital structure more stable. Notes: Companies often want to diversify their debt-to-equity ratio to improve liquidity. across the board, Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne said. In past discussions about Air Force recapitalization, aircraft usually took center stage. Although aircraft still need to be recapitalized, there has been a shift. "The Air Force recapitalization program is not focused simply on aircraft," Wynne said. "Where we know we have advanced technologies, we want to introduce them; where we know we have emerging missions, we want to satisfy them." One emerging mission will be an increase in intelligence gathering using unmanned aerial vehicles
"We need more UAVs and we need [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance An activity that synchronizes and integrates the planning and operation of sensors, assets, and processing, exploitation, and dissemination systems in direct support of current and future operations. This is an integrated intelligence and operations function. Also called ISR. ] platforms in space because this is really where the decision making starts," he said. All Air Force recapitalization efforts must be data-driven. The secretary wants airmen and acquisition entities enabled to take aggressive action and be accountable for those actions. "We need to have data to make our investment decisions," he said. "I need to provide them the kind of information upon which they can make credible decisions." The F-22A Raptor, C-17 Globemaster III, and C-130J Hercules have brought more reliability to the fight and probably a future decline in maintenance activities, Wynne said. "I'm finding out that the C-17 requires far fewer maintenance hours, and the F-22A is probably 40 percent more reliable," he said. "So [these better reliability rates)] are leading us to a re-evaluation of how we do operations throughout the process. "All this is about continuing to introduce innovation," Wynne said. "It will change the Air Force character without a doubt. But that's what we do. We as airmen like to push technology and change our mission over time." Master Sgt. Mitch The name Mitch can mean:
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